E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen I’ve just been handed the formal press releases issued by the Department of Finance about the receipt of the costings of, the receipt of the policy documents for costing and there’s one material difference between the statement made in relation to our documents, our policies, and the statement made in relation to the Labor policies. And that is that in the statement on the Labor policies it says that the Leader of the Opposition requested that “elements” of the following publicly announced opposition policies be costed by the Department of Finance. There was no such qualification in relation to the statement issued regarding our policies. What this means is that Mr Beazley may be concealing from the Department of Finance and the Department of Treasury some elements of his publicly released policies. I don’t know what those elements are because the document was handed in a sealed envelope to the Secretary. But if you have a look at the statements you’ll see there’s no such qualification in relation to our documents. I want to know what he's concealed from the Department of Finance.
JOURNALIST:
Will those costings though be out by…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is, look Sarah, this is a question of what he’s concealed, we’ll come to the question of timing in a moment. I mean we put our documents in in plenty of time for the costings to be publicly available before the election. He’s not only delayed the submission of these documents but it now appears that he hasn’t given the full bit to the Treasury and the Department of Finance. Now I don’t know, the public doesn’t know because it's confidential until the costings process is completed. But I want to know now from Mr Beazley immediately what is he concealing from the Department of Finance and the Department of Treasury? What are the elements that he hasn’t provided? We haven’t held anything back, we’re quite happy to have our policies fully costed. Is he asserting that he's got a right to hold something back, the whole purpose of this Charter of Budget Honesty is to have a proper comparison. So why the qualification Mr Beazley? Can we please have an explanation?
JOURNALIST:
Is he obliged to provide all details?
PRIME MINISTER:
He is obliged in political and moral terms to provide all the details. I mean, it makes a mockery of it. We provide ours and he decides what he will provide. The Australian people will make a very harsh judgment on that. And you can’t have it both ways, you have a Charter of Budget Honesty process and everything should go into the departments for costing.
JOURNALIST:
How far do you think Labor is in debt?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Labor is outspending us in this election campaign by a tune of more than two to one and that’s all the more reason why we ought to have these documents fully costed and we should have the lot fully costed. So he’s got a problem on two counts, he’s left it until an unconscionably late period in the campaign and we may not have the results of the costings before election day. And on top of that it would appear not on the basis of anything I have said but on a simple reading of the statement. I mean the statement from the department says “elements”, well what are the bits that are missing? There is no such qualification in relation to ours.
JOURNALIST:
So why do you think…
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t know. I want an explanation and I think you should demand an explanation from him and I think the Australian people should demand an explanation from him.
JOURNALIST:
… how much is (inaudible) budget be in deficit next year if they were to fund all their promises?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look all of the documents have got to be there and have got to be fully costed. And I do know this, that you’re looking at expenditure of $9-$10 billion over the forward estimates period by Labor which is more than double ours.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard this morning you said that under Labor petrol prices would go up by 3.2 cents…
PRIME MINISTER:
No I said … Kyoto…
JOURNALIST:
Under Kyoto.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
Could you explain how that prices…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you look at all the research that’s come out of ABARE and a number of other organisations because of the restrictions that would be imposed flowing from the Kyoto agreement.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard a win for Mrs Howard today on the races?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, my wife backed a winner today. And she nudged me and said I’m going to back one on Saturday too.
JOURNALIST:
… Big Pat today?
PRIME MINISTER:
I hope I do a little better than Big Pat but he was a stayer, and you know who else is.
JOURNALIST:
… your claim this morning that because the deal with the Democrats Labor will unwind its position on refugees.
PRIME MINISTER:
Because of its deal with the Democrats?
JOURNALIST:
Yeah you’re saying that Labor (inaudible) would go soft…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think Labor would go soft irrespective of any deal with the Democrats. I mean I think what will happen inside the Labor Party if Labor were to win is that they would begin to weaken and soften their stance on border protection. That’s what I think.
Thank you.
[ends]